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They don’t claim to have a dog in the New York City school system’s escalating LIFO fight, but this ad, from a group of well-funded school reform activists headed by former Chancellor Joel Klein appears to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, at least for Common Cause’s Susan Lerner who put out a statement blasting the commercial.

Here’s what she put out regarding the ad, which questions the existing LIFO or Last In First Out, layoff policy in the city (and most public sector agencies) that is under attack by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others.

“This is a continuation of an alarming trend in New York State, where highly paid lobbyists and special interests who have taken over Albany are now trying to dominate public discussion of the thorniest issues facing our state. They’re flooding the airwaves with dueling sound bites that obscure, rather than illuminate, the issues. A new committee, with an innocuous Mom-and-Apple Pie name, takes to the airwaves, without letting the public know who they are and which hedge fund manager is actually paying for these ads.”

Curious about why this particular TV ad, displayed below, and not similar ads run by unions or others set her off, Lerner told me it was simply a matter reaching the “boiling point,” given the avalanche of policy ads for any number causes that is raining down on New Yorkers.

Lerner did note that the Keep Great Teachers ad, paid for Education Reform Now is harnessing lots of Wall Street money Lerner said, “at least with unions you know who they are.”

Rather than thoughtful discussion and discourse, Lerner contends, the rise of lobbyist/consultent/admen are turning public policy debates “into a war of slick advertising back and forth.”
Lerner added that she would like to see tougher disclosure rules such as those in California where advocacy ads have to list their top donors.

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